SH 

G9I 


T 


THE  TARPON 


BY 


F.  GRAY  GRISWOLD 


GENERAL 
IBRARY 

NIVERSITY    OF 
CALIFORNIA 


er 


THE    SPORTING    GALLERY 
AND    BOOKSHOP,    INC. 

No.  38,  East  $znd  Street,  New  Tork 


THE    TARPON 


COMPLIMENTS    OF 
F.   GRAY  }GRISWOLD 


THE  TARPON 

»    BY 

F.  GRAY  GRISWOLD 


NEW  YORK 
PRIVATELY  PRINTED 

1922 


THE    TARPON 

(Tarpon  Atlanticus) 

THIS  game  fish  has  the  local  names  of 
Tarpon,  Tarpum,  Grand  Ecaille,  Savalo,  Sa- 
balo,  Savanilla,  Savalle,  Silver  Fish,  and  Silver 
King. 

He  belongs  to  the  family  of  Elopidea,  and  is 
the  largest  of  the  herring  tribe.  His  habitat  at 
sea  is  in  the  warn^d^ters  of  the  Atlantic  Ocean 
and  of  the  Gulf  Stream.  He  is  found  along  the 
coasts  of  Brazil  and  Central  America,  as  well 
as  among  the  islands  of  the  West  Indies  and 
also  along  the  gulf  coast  of  Mexico.  In  the 
summer  time  tarpon  are  numerous  all  around 
the  Gulf  of  Mexico  and  on  the  east  coast  of 
Florida. 

A  few  fish  have  been  known  to  appear  in 
midsummer  as  far  north  as  the  New  England 
coast.  I  have  seen  some  in  the  New  York 
Aquarium  that  had  been  taken  in  nets  in  New 
York  Bay.  In  the  summer  of  1919, 1  saw  a  fine 


M8420SO 


6  THE    TARPON 

specimen  that  was  caught  in  a  net  in  Narra- 
gansett  Bay  near  Newport. 

Little  is  known  of  the  habits  of  the  tarpon 
when  in  the  open  sea.  I  never  met  them  at  sea 
but  once,  and  that  was  in  the  month  of  Febru- 
ary along  the  edge  of  the  Gulf  Stream  off  New 
River  Inlet.  On  that  occasion  I  sailed  through 
a  large  school  on  the  surface  swimming  south. 

Tarpon  are  often  taken  in  the  nets  off  Hills- 
boro  Inlet,  which  is  not  far  from  where  I  met 
them. 

They  arrive  among  the  Keys  of  lower  Florida 
in  small  schools  of  an  average  weight  in  Febru- 
ary, and  from  then  on  their  numbers  increase 
until  midsummer.  These  schools  of  fish  dwell 
in  Bahia  Hondo,  Matecumbe  Sound  and  other 
channels  for  a  few  days  before  working  their 
way  into  the  Gulf  of  Mexico.  If  a  Norther 
blows  they  go  to  sea,  and  return  later.  Other 
fish  enter  the  rivers  of  the  east  coast  of  Flor- 
ida. 

The  building  of  the  East  Coast  Railway 
greatly  disturbed  their  customs,  for  many  of 
the  fairways  they  were  in  the  habit  of  journey- 
ing through  were  closed  by  trestles  and  via- 
ducts. At  that  time  schools  of  fish  appeared 
in  Biscayan  Bay,  and  many  were  taken  off  the 


THE    TARPON  7 

mouth  of  Arch  Creek.  These  fish  were  evi- 
dently looking  for  a  passage  through  to  the 
west  coast,  having  found  their  usual  route 
further  south  barred  by  the  railroad. 

On  the  west  coast  tarpon  are  to  be  found  in 
Shark,  Harney,  Broad,  Turner's  and  Losman's 
rivers,  and  among  the  Thousand  Islands.  In 
Surveyor's  Creek,  Estero,  and  the  Caloosa- 
hatchee  River,  also  in  the  Passes  that  divide 
the  outer  islands  such  as  Captiva  and  Boca 
Grande,  and  up  along  the  Gulf  of  Mexico. 

These  fish  are  supposed  to  return  south  in 
early  November,  but  many  remain  in  the  deep 
holes  of  the  rivers  during  the  winter  and  do 
not  show  unless  the  water  is  at  least  as  warm 
as  68  degrees. 

Where  these  fish  come  from  is  not  known,  but 
they  appear  to  arrive  from  the  West  Indies  via 
the  Gulf  Stream. 

There  is  another  migration  up  the  west  side 
of  the  Gulf  that  appears  to  come  from  the  rivers 
of  Mexico.  They  begin  to  arrive  at  Aransas 
Pass  in  March. 

It  is  not  known  where  they  spawn.  Some 
people  believe  it  happens  at  sea  but,  from  what 
I  have  seen,  I  believe  they  spawn  in  brackish 
water  at  the  headwaters  of  streams,  or  at  the 


8  THE    TARPON 

head  of  the  tide,  for  it  is  there  only  that  you  find 
small  fish. 

Fifteen  miles  up  rivers  in  Cuba  I  have  taken 
large  tarpon  that  were  evidently  spent  fish,  not 
only  from  their  appearance  but  because  they 
had  little  strength.  It  is  possible  they  also 
spawn  on  the  flats  and  sandbars  inside  the 
outer  islands. 

Tarpon  are  very  susceptible  to  the  cold,  and 
love  warm  water.  When  in  the  rivers  and  not 
looking  for  food  they  will  lie  on  the  bottom, 
coming  up  from  time  to  time  for  a  mouthful 
of  air  and  then  retiring  to  their  resting  place, 
after  which  air-bubbles  will  arise  to  the  surface. 

It  is  this  action  that  makes  the  natives  insist 
that  these  fish  have  lungs  and  use  them  for 
breathing.  Then  again  they  will  lie  on  the 
bottom  for  hours  as  other  fish  do,  with  little 
or  no  motion  of  the  fins. 

I  once  saw  quite  a  school  of  large  tarpon 
lying  on  the  bottom  in  the  Los  Angeles  River 
in  the  Isle  of  Pines.  They  took  no  notice  of 
the  launch,  although  we  passed  over  them  twice 
in  seven  feet  of  clear  water. 

I  once  caught  a  baby  tarpon  five  inches  long 
in  a  gill  net  in  New  River.  He  was  badly  gilled, 
yet  lived  all  day  in  a  tub.  He  did  not  act  as 


THE    TARPON  9 

other  fish  do,  but  allowed  me  to  stroke  him 
gently  and,  tarpon-like,  showed  no -fear.  From 
time  to  time  he  would  rise  to  the  surface  as  the 
large  fish  do  in  the  rivers,  then  go  to  the  bottom 
of  the  tub  again,  and  in  a  moment  the  bubbles 
would  slowly  issue  from  his  mouth. 

The  long  lower  jaw  of  the  tarpon  shows  that 
he  is  a  bottom  feeder,  and  lives  on  crabs;  yet 
he  also  feeds  on  school  fish  such  as  mullet, 
needle  fish,  and  the  like. 

Although  the  tarpon's  mouth  is  as  hard  as 
stone,  there  is  a  very  sensitive  cuticle  that 
covers  the  roof  of  the  mouth.  When  you  see 
a  tarpon  in1  a  river  jump  you  may  be  sure  that 
a  crab  has  nipped  this  cuticle.  When  they 
jump  in  the  sea  it  may  be  done  to  get  rid  of 
ramoras. 

I  believe  that  the  tarpon  not  only  come  to 
the  rivers  of  Florida  in  the  spring  and  early 
summer  for  the  purpose  of  spawning,  but  that 
like  the  salmon  they  return  to  the  same  river 
as  a  rule,  and  that  many  fish  remain  in  deep 
holes  in  the  rivers  throughout  the  winter. 

This  belief  is  based  on  the  fact  that  in  the 
late  80's  and  early  90's  there  were  many  tarpon 
to  be  found  in  the  Peace  River.  During  the 
freeze  in  1894  many  hundreds  of  tarpon  were 


10  THE    TARPON 

killed  by  the  cold  in  this  stream.  The  banks 
were  lined  with  dead  fish  of  the  largest  kind. 
Since  that  time,  few  tarpon  are  to  be  found  in 
the  Peace  River. 

I  was  in  Florida  at  the  time  of  the  "Big 
Freeze,"  living  in  a  houseboat  on  the  St.  Lucie 
River.  The  mercury  went  to  18  degrees,  and 
the  river  water  steamed  and  smoked.  It  was 
not  the  cold  that  directly  killed  the  fish,  but 
the  cold  seemed  to  have  consumed  the  oxygen 
in  the  water,  for  the  fish  died  from  asphyxia- 
tion. 

For  two  hundred  miles  both  shores  of  the 
shallow  Indian  River  were  banked  with  dead 
fish,  mostly  so-called  surface  feeders  such  as 
snook,  bluefish,  and  the  like.  The  bottom  fish 
did  not  seem  to  be  affected. 

I  saw  many  bluefish  of  five  pounds  flopping 
along  on  the  surface,  but  no  mullet.  These 
wise  fish  went  to  sea  in  schools  the  day  before 
the  Norther  arrived. 

We  picked  up  nineteen  green  turtles  that  were 
benumbed  by  the  cold  and  floating  on  the  sur- 
face. These  turtles  were  stacked  on  the  lower 
deck  of  the  houseboat  and  revived  much  to  the 
consternation  of  the  crew,  although  they  were 
compensated  for  their  troubles  the  following  day 


THE    TARPON  11 

when  they  disposed  of  the  turtles  at  Fort  Pierce 
for  $200. 

I  have  fished  for  tarpon  in  the  St.  Lucie 
River  in  midwinter.  For  days  you  would  not 
see  any  fish,  but  if  you  waited  until  after  a  few 
days  of  hot  sun  had  warmed  the  water  to  68 
degrees  they  would  begin  to  roll  and  show  them- 
selves and  would  then  take  live  silver  mullet 
bait. 

It  took  me  some  time  to  find  out  how  to  keep 
mullet  alive,  for  if  you  put  them  into  a  well  in 
a  boat  they  bruise  their  noses  against  the  sides 
of  the  well  and  die. 

I  procured  oat  bags  and  laced  barrel  hoops 
around  them  on  the  outside.  I  then  ran  draw- 
ing strings  around  the  mouths  of  the  bags. 
After  placing  half  a  dozen  live  mullet,  taken  by 
cast-net,  in  each  of  several  bags  I  practised  with 
them  to  find  out  in  what  depth  of  water  the 
mullet  were  most  comfortable.  I  then  tied  the 
bags  to  the  roots  of  trees  along  the  bank  of  the 
stretch  of  river  I  proposed  to  fish.  In  this 
manner  I  always  had  fresh,  live  bait  at  my 
convenient  disposal. 

I  found  the  new  moon  was  the  best  day  of 
the  month  to  fish.  One  winter,  on  the  new 
moon  in  January,  I  took  a  187-pound  tarpon; 


THE    TARPON 

and  on  the  following  new  moon,  in  February, 
I  landed  a  fish  weighing  165  pounds. 

This  fishing  was  done  from  a  row  boat;  but 
in  later  years  and  since  the  advent  of  the  Wil- 
son spoon  I  have  fished  in  a  small  launch.  A 
live  bait  behind  a  launch  soon  dies  and  revolves 
like  a  pin-wheel  which  destroys  one's  line,  but 
the  Wilson  spoon  skitters  and  does  not  revolve 
in  the  water. 

Tarpon  are  greatly  attracted  by  this  spoon, 
and  it  has  been  a  blessing  to  me  in  Cuba  where 
no  mullet  were  to  be  had. 

I  built  two  fishing  yachts,  the  Savalo  and  the 
Kona,  for  tarpon  fishing  in  Cuba,  and  fished 
there  almost  every  winter  from  1904  to  1920. 

I  have  cruised  from  Nipe  Bay  to  the  west- 
ward around  Cape  San  Antonio  and  as  far  as 
Cienfuegos  on  the  south  coast,  and  also  to  the 
Isle  of  Pines  60  miles  south  of  Cuba. 

Tarpon  are  to  be  found  in  certain  rivers  in 
Cuba  at  all  times  of  the  year.  I  say  certain 
rivers,  for  the  tarpon  is  a  clean  fish  and  does 
not  favor  muddy  water.  The  soil  of  Cuba  is 
red  and  rich,  so  that  the  streams  that  drain 
the  cultivated  lands  are  mostly  muddy;  in  such 
rivers  no  tarpon  are  to  be  found. 

There  are  large  swamps  in   Cuba,   and  the 


THE    TARPON  13 

rivers  that  drain  these  swamps  run  clear.  It  is 
in  these  rivers  that  the  most  fish  are  to  be 
found. 

The  Rio  Negro  and  Jatibonico  drain  over 
one  hundred  square  miles  of  swamp,  and  in 
these  rivers  the  tarpon  abound. 

The  Damuji  River  is  also  a  river  of  fairly 
clear  water,  and  at  times  there  is  good  fishing 
there. 

These  rivers  are  all  on  the  south  coast  of  Cuba. 
On  the  north  coast  a  small  river  with  a  long 
name,  the  Zaraguanacan,  is  often  full  of  tarpon. 

The  fish  do  not  seem  to  go  above  the  tide. 
The  limit  of  the  mangroves,  which  do  not  grow 
along  fresh  water,  seems  to  be  the  limit  of  the 
tarpon  from  what  I  have  seen,  yet  Mr.  Zane 
Grey  says  he  found  tarpon  one  hundred  miles 
up  the  Panuco  River  in  Mexico. 

The  fish  do  not  run  as  large  as  at  some  places 
in  Florida,  although  I  have  taken  fish  of  130 
pounds  in  weight  and  have  lost  heavier  ones. 
The  headwaters  of  the  rivers  abound  in  small 
fish.  I  have  at  times  seen  hundreds  of  tarpon 
that  would  weigh  from  10  to  15  pounds  and  have 
taken  them  four  inches  long. 

On  one  occasion  I  found  a  narrow  stretch  of 
the  Jatibonico  River  simply  alive  with  15 -pound 


14  THE    TARPON 

tarpon.  I  landed  14  in  an  hour's  fishing  and 
must  have  "jumped"  25  more  fish.  At  another 
time  and  in  another  river  I  "jumped"  52  large 
tarpon  in  three  days'  fishing  of  the  flood  tides. 

My  fishing  journal  tells  me  that  I  landed  254 
tarpon  in  Cuba,  which  means  that  I  must  have 
hooked  over  1,000  fish,  for  it  is  not  possible  to 
save  more  than  one  hooked  tarpon  out  of  five 
fish  hung  on  a  Wilson  spoon.  The  weight  of  the 
spoon  helps  the  fish  to  free  himself. 

I  invariably  turned  the  hooked  fish  loose 
unless  they  were  damaged.  They  sometimes 
bruise  their  gills  in  jumping  and  bleed  profusely. 
In  such  cases  the  fish  will  not  live  if  liberated. 

The  natives  of  Cuba  spear  tarpon  and  I  am 
sorry  to  say  net  the  small  ones.  Both  there  and 
in  Mexico  the  fish  are  eaten  fresh  as  well  as 
salted. 

My  method  of  fishing  in  Cuba  has  been  trolling 
a  large  sized  Wilson  spoon  with  sixty  feet  of  line 
over  the  stern  of  a  small  launch.  The  launch 
travels  at  the  rate  of  four  miles  an  hour.  If  a 
fish  is  hooked  in  a  wide  part  of  the  river  I  have 
the  launch  circle  the  fish.  It  is  easy  to  land  a 
100-pound  tarpon  in  8  minutes  by  this  method 
if  you  understand  fighting  fish. 

If  a  fish  is  hooked  in  a  narrow  stream  it  is 


THE    TARPON  15 

necessary  to  keep  the  boat  away  from  the  fish 
until  he  is  well  spent.  In  narrow  streams  you 
lose  many  fish  for  they  jump  into  the  over- 
hanging branches  of  the  mangrove  trees  which 
line  the  banks  and  tumble  back  into  the  wa- 
ter leaving  your  tackle  entangled  among  the 
branches. 

The  Cauto  on  the  south  coast  is  the  only 
river  in  Cuba  that  is  navigagable.  The  other 
streams  are  often  from  eight  to  ten  feet  deep, 
excepting  where  they  flow  into  the  sea;  here 
you  will  find  wide  bars  with  but  four  feet  of  water. 

It  is  a  delight  to  fish  in  these  rivers  in  winter 
for  there  are  no  sharks  to  rob  you  of  your  fish 
nor  any  insects  of  any  kind  excepting  a  few 
mosquitoes  at  sunset  if  your  yacht  happens  to 
be  five  or  ten  miles  up  a  river  and  moored  to 
the  windward  bank.  The  rivers  are  lined  with 
mangroves  and  dotted  here  and  there  along  the 
banks  with  royal  palms,  the  most  beautiful  of 
trees. 

Of  this  tree  Davis  wrote:  "The  royal  palm 
is  the  characteristic  feature  of  the  landscape  in 
Cuba.  It  is  the  most  beautiful  of  all  palms  and 
possibly  the  most  beautiful  of  trees.  The  co- 
coanut  palm,  picturesque  as  it  is,  has  a  pathetic 
resemblance  to  a  shabby  feather  duster  and  its 


16  THE    TARPON 

trunk  bends  and  twists  as  though  it  had  not  the 
strength  to  push  its  way  through  the  air  and  to 
hold  itself  erect.  But  the  royal  palm  shoots 
up  boldly  from  the  earth  with  the  grace  and 
symmetry  of  a  marble  column." 

At  sunset  the  small  white  cranes  and  egrets 
fly  upstream  to  their  roosts.  They  flit  along 
close  to  the  surface  of  the  river  and  it  is  amusing 
to  watch  the  tarpon  rise  at  their  shadows  as 
they  fly  by. 

There  is  a  pond  of  brackish  water  on  Pine 
Island,  Florida,  which  has  no  outlet  to  the  sea 
and  contains  many  quite  small  tarpon.  The 
spawn  must  have  been  dropped  by  birds  or 
carried  to  the  pond  on  the  backs  of  alligators. 
Owing  to  the  poor  food  these  fish  do  not  increase 
in  size. 

I  do  not  take  any  interest  in  fishing  for  tarpon 
with  so-called  light  tackle.  I  believe  a  15-thread 
line  is  quite  light  enough  and  that  the  "punish- 
ment should  fit  the  crime."  In  other  words  the 
charm  of  heavy  fishing  is  being  "up  against"  a 
big  fish  and  landing  him  as  quickly  and  as 
humanely  as  possible.  The  chief  pleasure  is 
the  give  and  take  between  man  and  fish. 

The  theory  that  fish  are  cold-blooded  creatures 
and  therefore  do  not  suffer  is  all  very  well  as  a 


THE    TARPON  17 

theory  but  I  never  want  any  fish  to  dangle  at 
the  end  of  my  line  and  eventually  commit 
suicide. 

What  anglers  mean  when  they  tell  stories  of 
fighting  a  salmon  for  an  hour  or  longer  is  beyond 
me.  Any  salmon  up  to  45  pounds  in  weight 
ought  to  be  killed  in  twenty  minutes  even  with 
light  grilse  tackle  if  the  angler  knows  how  to  fish. 

Fishing  with  a  16-ounce  grilse  rod  I  once  rose, 
hooked,  landed  and  weighed  in  50  minutes,  5 
salmon  that  weighed  128  pounds.  This  was  not 
done  with  intent  but  in  the  regular  course  of 
fishing. 

What  I  do  believe  in  is  fishing  for  tarpon  with 
a  plain  reel  without  any  drag.  The  science  of 
tarpon  fishing  was  lost  when  the  reel  drag  was 
invented.  It  came  about  in  the  following  manner : 

The  science  of  sea  fishing  was  first  developed 
along  the  Atlantic  seaboard  in  the  early  60's 
and  the  Striped  Bass  (Roccus  lineatus)  was  the 
interesting  fish  which  started  this  development. 

The  multiplying  reels  and  Cuttyhunk  twisted 
linen  lines  were  invented  for  this  purpose,  it 
being  discovered  that  these  fish  were  too  quick 
for  the  old  single  action  reels  and  that  the  braided 
cotton  lines  were  not  strong  enough  to  hold 
these  active,  agile  fish. 


18  THE    TARPON 

The  method  of  fishing  was  casting  a  bait  into 
the  white  tumbling  surf  from  the  rocks  or  from 
stands  built  for  that  purpose. 

The  three  jointed  rods  of  ash  or  lance  wood 
used  at  first  were  later  abandoned,  for  two-piece 
rods  of  Japan  or  Calcutta  bamboo,  and  these 
rods  were  later  developed  into  the  two-piece 
split  bamboos  with  guides  and  tips  of  agate  of 
the  present  day. 

The  reels  had  no  drag  but  were  supplied  with  a 
musical  click  of  small  value.  Later  on  in  the 
80 's  a  light  drag  was  placed  on  the  left  side  of 
the  reel  for  tarpon  fishing,  to  prevent  the  line 
from  over-running  in  case  of  carelessness. 

The  first  tarpon  fishermen  were  old  bass  fish- 
ermen who  had  learned  the  trick  of  playing 
heavy  fish  with  rod  and  reel  and  they  all  fished 
with  the  right  thumb  on  the  reel  as  it  had  been 
their  custom  so  to  fish  when  casting. 

A  few  of  us  took  up  tarpon  fishing  without  ever 
having  done  much  bass  fishing  and  we  fished 
with  the  left  thumbs  on  the  reels  and  pumped 
the  fish  with  our  right  hands. 

This  method  had  a  great  advantage  for  the 
right  hand  was  always  free,  away  from  the  reel 
handle  and  out  of  danger,  yet  always  ready  to 
reel  in  the  slack. 


THE    TARPON  19 

The  man  who  attempted  to  check  a  fish  with 
his  right  thumb  on  the  reel  and  then  reel  in  the 
slack  with  his  right  hand  was  always  in  danger 
of  the  back  lash  of  the  reel  handle. 

E.  H.  Vom  Hofe,  the  celebrated  tackle  man- 
ufacturer, was  one  of  the  first  and  most  success- 
ful tarpon  fishermen,  and,  being  an  expert  bass 
fisherman  as  well,  always  fished  with  his  right 
thumb  on  the  reel. 

We  often  discussed  the  two  ways  of  fishing 
and  I  could  not  persuade  him  that  my  way  was 
right  and  his  way  was  wrong  until  one  day  as  he 
was  playing  a  heavy  fish  at  Captiva  Pass  the 
reel  handle  broke  his  right  thumb. 

The  Rabbeth  drag  had  already  been  invented 
but  was  taboo  according  to  the  Tuna  Club 
Rules,  so  Vom  Hofe  sat  up  nights  until  he  had 
perfected  the  reel  drag  as  we  know  it  to-day. 

He  showed  it  to  me  and  I  had  the  first  reel 
made  with  the  new  invention.  He  described 
it  to  me  at  the  time  as  a  "reel  with  which  a  man 
can  fish  who  has  no  thumbs  at  all."  (1902). 

Later  on  the  B -Ocean  reel  was  adapted  by 
Mr.  Boschen,  the  greatest  fisherman  of  all  time, 
with  a  free  running  spool  and  stationary  handle 
for  heavy  sword-fishing,  for  this  fish  takes  sud- 
den dives  of  two  hundred  feet  and  more  and  if 


20  THE    TARPON 

you  cannot  quickly  free  the  line  your  rod  is 
pulled  out  of  your  hands  or  broken. 

The  tackle  as  it  exists  to-day  is  capable  of 
holding  and  landing  a  1,000-pound  game  fish 
and  the  reels  will  hold  1,200-feet  of  24-thread 
line. 

The  drag  is  necessary  for  swordfish,  marlin, 
and  giant  tuna,  for  you  cannot  fight  such  heavy 
fish  for  four  and  more  hours  with  thumb  pres- 
sure only,  but  for  tarpon  and  tuna  up  to  200 
pounds  in  weight  thumb  pressure  is  quite  suf- 
ficient and  much  more  sportsmanlike. 

I  killed  5  tuna  that  weighed  491  pounds  in 
six  hours  with  a  plain  reel  and  have  landed  very 
many  tarpon  weighing  from  187  pounds  down 
without  any  reel  drag,  so  I  write  of  my  own  per- 
sonal experience. 

With  the  invention  of  the  reel  drag  the  science 
of  tarpon  fishing  received  a  coup  de  grace.  It 
is  no  longer  fishing  but  "coffee  grinding"  and 
the  fish  have  no  chance  whatever. 

I  have  seen  men  at  Boca  Grande  block  the 
line  at  the  first  jump  of  a  tarpon,  start  the  launch 
engine  and  tow  the  fish  ashore  with  his  mouth 
wide  open. 

That  is  not  fishing;   it  is  murder! 

Tarpon  can  readily  be  killed  on  light  tackle, 


THE    TARPON  21 

only  it  takes  more  line  and  more  time  and  the 
rod  enjoys  most  of  the  fun. 

With  light  tackle  you  must  follow  the  fish, 
with  heavy  tackle  the  fish  comes  to  you.  As 
hooked  tarpon  always  float  with  the  tide  or 
current  it  is  at  times  hard  work,  but  when  you 
hear  of  a  fisherman  who  has  been  an  hour  or 
more  killing  a  tarpon  you  may  be  quite  certain 
he  has  been  trying  to  pull  the  heavy  fish  against 
the  tide. 

The  Light  Tackle  Club  at  Aransas  Pass  died  a 
natural  death,  for  many  members  have  told  me 
they  gave  up  going  there  because  they  wearied 
of  light  tackle  yet  did  not  like  to  go  back  to 
the  only  real  sport,  heavy  tackle. 

Mr.  L.  G.  Murphy  holds  the  Aransas  Pass 
record  for  light  tackle,  a  tarpon  6  feet  9i  inches 
long. 

At  Catalina  Island  a  marlin  of  185  pounds  and 
a  tuna  weighing  14/,?  pounds  have  been  landed 
with  light  tackle  by  Mr.  Jump.  This  is  done  by 
setting  the  drag  at  the  proper  tension  so  that 
a  long  run  of  the  fish  will  not  break  the  line. 
The  angler  holds  the  handle  of  the  reel  which 
works  but  one  way  when  the  drag  is  on.  The 
fish  takes  the  line  from  the  reel  with  the  set 
drag  and  the  fisherman  reels  in  the  slack  when  he 


THE    TARPON 

can  get  it.  It  takes  skill,  time,  and  patience 
but  to  me  it  does  not  give  the  satisfaction  of 
being  "up  against"  a  big  fish. 

If  the  advocates  of  light  tackle  for  tarpon 
would  go  back  to  the  plain  reel  instead  I  can 
promise  them  plenty  of  exercise  and  entertain- 
ment. 

I  am  greatly  interested  in  all  fish  and  have  a 
real  affection  for  the  tarpon.  He  is  a  gentleman 
among  fishes.  He  is  not  in  the  least  afraid  of 
man  or  boat  and  when  once  hooked  does  not 
attempt  to  run  away  or  take  advantage  of  his 
great  strength. 

His  one  idea  is  to  get  rid  of  the  hook  which 
annoys  him  and  he  will  jump  clear  of  the  surface 
many  times  and  attempt  to  free  himself.  If 
these  tactics  fail  he  will  then  swim  close  up  to 
the  boat,  raise  himself  out  of  the  water  and 
shake  his  head.  It  is  then  that  he  is  usually  lost. 

He  is  the  grandest  and  most  beautiful  silver 
fish  that  swims  and  he  has  the  best  manners  of 
any  of  the  denizens  of  the  deep,  for  he  avoids 
all  snags,  stumps,  or  obstructions  in  a  river 
when  hooked  and  never  takes  advantage  of  the 
fisherman  but  fights  square. 

I  have  the  greatest  admiration  for  this  Silver 
King  of  sea  fishes. 


METHODS  OF  TARPON  FISHING 

The  first  tarpon  were  taken  bottom  fishing. 
It  was  the  custom  to  anchor  the  boat  at  some 
chosen  spot  that  was  frequented  by  the  fish  and 
then  to  chum  with  pieces  of  cut  mullet.  Two 
hooks  baited  with  the  better  part  of  a  mullet 
on  each  hook  were  cast  out.  The  angler 
watched  one  rod  and  his  guide  took  charge  of 
the  other. 

I  always  took  pains  that  my  rod  pointed 
towards  the  spot  where  my  bait  lay  so  that 
when  the  latter  was  picked  up  the  line  would 
run  free  from  the  reel.  The  fish  was  allowed  to 
take  fifty  feet  of  line  before  striking  because  a 
tarpon  will  pick  up  a  bait  and  move  off  with 
it  in  his  mouth  before  gorging  it. 

The  theory  that  loose  line  must  be  coiled  in 
the  bottom  of  the  boat  was  for  novices  that 
could  not  pick  up  a  rod  without  checking  the 
fish. 

Tarpon  that  have  gorged  the  bait,  unless 
hooked  in  a  vital  spot,  fight  much  harder  than 
those  that  are  hooked  in  the  mouth. 

23 


24  THE    TARPON 

The  drawback  to  bottom  fishing  was  that  the 
fish  were  all  destroyed  and  could  not  be  set  free. 

The  snoods  were  made  of  deerskin  or  cotton 
cord  partly  for  the  reason  that  wire  is  stiff  and 
the  fish  would  drop  such  a  bait  and  also  that  if 
a  shark  picked  up  the  bait  he  would  bite  through 
the  snood  and  free  himself. 

I  always  used  snoods  made  of  three  strands 
of  fine  wire  twisted.  They  were  not  so  easily 
seen,  were  pliable  and  took  more  fish,  besides  I 
enjoyed  playing  the  mackerel  sharks  for  they 
are  great  jumpers  and  strong  fighters. 

When  the  Van  Vleck  hook  was  invented  the 
general  method  of  fishing  changed.  It  had  been 
discovered  that  when  trolling  the  greater  part 
of  the  fish  were  hooked  over  the  incisors  which 
are  very  large  in  the  tarpon  and  that  the  fish 
would  jump  and  throw  the  hook.  Mr.  Van 
Vleck  had  hooks  made  with  the  belly  nearer  the 
point  of  the  hook,  which  made  it  more  difficult 
for  the  fish  to  get  rid  of  the  hook  when  jumping. 

I  say  this  hook  was  invented,  yet  I  have  seen 
in  the  Naples  Museum,  the  very  same  hook 
found  in  Pompeii  (destroyed  A.  D.  79)  and 
probably  used  for  trolling  for  tunney-fish. 

We  then  either  trolled  for  tarpon  or  anchored 
in  strong  tideways  in  the  Passes  with  a  strip  of 


THE    TARPON  25 

mullet  for  bait  and  with  one  hundred  feet  of 
wet  line.  When  a  tarpon  was  hooked  your 
guide  would  throw  the  buoyed  anchor  rope 
overboard  and  you  would  follow  the  fish.  Hav- 
ing your  anchor  buoyed  saved  time  and  it  also 
gave  you  a  reserved  position  to  return  to. 

When  Mr.  Mygatt  discovered  Boca  Grande 
as  a  fishing  possibility  (1898),  owing  to  the  great 
depth  of  water  there  drift  fishing  was  adopted. 

The  leader  used  is  of  heavy  strong  piano  wire 
six  feet  in  length  and  at  the  upper  or  rod  end  of 
the  leader  a  sinker  is  fastened  to  the  swivel  or 
ring  with  a  light  piece  of  string.  The  hook,  is 
baited  with  a  live  blue  crab  or  a  strip  of  mullet. 
The  launch  goes  under  power  to  the  entrance  to 
the  Pass  and  drifts  in  with  the  tide.  The  fisher- 
man keeps  the  hook  off  the  bottom,  in  other 
words  slowly  trolls  the  bait  close  to  the  bottom 
where  the  tarpon  lie. 

As  the  depth  of  water  changes,  the  length  of 
line  is  changed.  If  you  hook  a  fish  his  first 
jump  frees  the  sinker.  The  drawback  to  this 
fishing  is  that  the  sharks  are  numerous  and  steal 
the  hooked  fish. 

To  my  mind  this  is  the  most  uninteresting 
form  of  tarpon  fishing,  for  to  hook  a  fish  near 
the  bottom  in  60  feet  of  water  does  not  give  the 


26  THE    TARPON 

same  sensation  as  travelling  along  at  four  miles 
an  hour  and  hooking  near  the  surface,  a  fish 
that  immediately  leaps  in  the  air.  A  tarpon 
will  also  jump  twice  as  often  in  8  feet  of  water. 

I  have  seen  forty  or  more  boats  drifting  fairly 
close  together  at  Boca  Grande  on  a  moonlit 
night  and  consternation  caused  among  them  by 
the  sudden  jumping  of  two  or  three  large  hooked 
fish. 

It  is  a  popular  and  lazy  form  of  sport  where 
fish  are  plentiful,  and  as  the  tarpon  is  an  elusive 
fish  and  difficult  to  find,  Boca  Grande  is  much 
frequented  for  the  fish  are  known  to  be  there  in 
numbers. 

To  me  the  great  charm  of  tarpon  fishing  is  to 
hunt  for  the  fish  and  find  them,  which  you  can 
do  in  rivers  as  they  often  swim  along  the  sur- 
face, or  if  lying  on  the  bottom  come  up  from 
time  to  time  for  air. 

Fish  hooked  in  the  mouth  can  readily  be  set 
free.  Your  guide  is  provided  with  a  large 
barbless  release-hook  which  he  inserts  in  the 
fish's  jaw  and  then  removes  the  fishhook  with 
his  gloved  hand. 

The  season  for  tarpon  fishing  in  Florida  is 
from  the  month  of  May  to  October. 

At  Aransas  Pass,  Texas,  they  fish  in  the  Gulf 


THETARPON  27 

outside  the  jetties  with  live  or  dead  silver 
mullet.  The  drawbacks  are  the  rough  water 
and  the  numerous  sharks.  June  and  October 
are  the  best  months. 

When  I  was  at  Tampico,  Mexico,  the  method 
of  fishing  was  trolling  a  dead  silver  mullet 
behind  a  row  boat.  We  fished  at  the  jetties 
seven  miles  below  the  town  or  ten  miles  up  the 
Panuco  River  above  Tampico.  There  is  also 
a  Laguna  that  contains  small  tarpon.  Owing 
to  the  trade  wind,  afternoon  fishing  is  difficult. 
The  best  months  are  February  and  March. 

In  the  Panama  Zone  the  fishing  is  done  from 
the  shore  below  the  spillway  of  the  Gatun  Dam. 
The  method  of  fishing  is  with  the  fly  and  the 
season  is  from  May  to  November.  If  the  Canal 
had  no  locks  the  tarpon  would  now  be  in  the 
Pacific  as  well  as  in  the  Atlantic  Ocean. 


ADVICE 

When  going  seafishing  I  always  choose  from 
the  new  to  the  full  moon,  for  fish  feed  at  night 
when  there  is  a  moon,  and  are  therefore  less 
hungry  than  after  dark  nights. 

This  does  not  apply  to  Boca  Grande  where 
the  moon  is  necessary  for  night  fishing. 

The  days  of  the  changes  of  the  moon,  espe 
cially  the  first  day  of  the  new  moon,  are  the  best 
days  during  the  month  for  tarpon  fishing.  The 
probable  reason  for  this  is  that  the  tides  are 
high  and  strong  at  such  times,  which  means 
more  food  or  more  inclination  to  feed,  for  the 
new  moon  increases  the  activity  of  all  fish. 

When  on  a  fishing  trip  I  never  dry  my  lines. 
Salt  water  preserves  linen  lines  and  a  wet  line 
is  stronger  than  a  dry  one.  The  lines  must 
be  thoroughly  dried  indoors  at  the  end  of  a 
fishing  trip.  Never  dry  lines  in  the  sun  or  wind 
for  they  are  fatal.  Lines  used  in  fresh  water 
must  be  dried  daily. 

After  a  day's  fishing  unreel  the  line  and  reel 

28 


THE    TARPON  29 

it  on  again  with  care.  This  is  done  to  take  the 
strain  off  the  reel-drum  and  to  prevent  the 
reel  from  spreading. 

Split  bamboo  rods  are  the  only  rods  that  are 
strong  and  durable  enough  for  heavy  fishing. 
For  ease  and  comfort  fish  with  a  rod  that  is  not 
over  six  inches  longer  than  you  are  tall.  Long 
rods  are  back  breakers. 

When  I  first  visited  Catalina  Island  in  1900 
I  broke  at  the  butt,  a  defective  6  ft.  9  in.  rod, 
which,  when  repaired,  was  6  ft.  5  in.  long.  With 
this  rod  I  killed  13  tuna  that  weighed  1,411 
pounds  in  fourteen  days  and  discovered  the 
advantage  of  a  short  rod.  I  now  fish  with 
split-bamboo  rods  in  one  piece,  tip  and  butt 
all  in  one,  6  ft.  5  in.  long. 

My  success  at  Catalina  in  1900  was  the  cause 
of  the  Tuna  Club  Rules.  The  Secretary  of  the 
Club  informed  me  as  I  was  leaving  the  island 
that  they  had  desired  that  an  experienced  tarpon 
fisherman  should  try  the  tuna  but  that  they  were 
disappointed  with  my  "great  success!" 

The  Tuna  Club  Rules  followed.  They  were 
quite  right  to  limit  the  size  and  strength  of 
lines  but  an  angler  should  be  allowed  to  choose 
his  own  length  of  rod.  It  takes  better  hands 
to  fish  with  a  short  stiff  rod  than  with  a  long 


30  THE    TARPON 

pliable  one  and  in  heavy  fishing  comfort  and 
ease  is  the  desideratum. 

If  the  insects  are  bad  use: 
3C's 

Oils  of  Camphor,  Cedar  and  Citronella  in 
equal  parts.  For  the  bites  of  insects  Pine  Oil 
is  the  best  palliative.  If  subject  to  sunburn 
"Face  Paint"  is  an  absolutely  sure  preventative. 
It  makes  one  look  like  a  Red  Indian  but  it  is 
pleasant  to  use  and  no  sun  has  the  slightest 
effect  on  skin  covered  with  this  mixture. 

Prescription  for  Face  Paint  to  Prevent 
Sunburn 

3  oz.  Yellow  Ochre 
2  oz.  Burnt  Sienna 

4  oz.  Mucilage   of   Quince   or   Flax  Seed,   or 

bandoline,  Rose  water,  to  make  one  pint- 

Shake  well  before  using. 

Put  in  a  large-mouthed  bottle  and  apply  with 
absorbent  cotton  and  when  nearly  dry,  spread 
evenly  over  the  face  with  the  fingers. 


WEIGHT  AND  MEASUREMENT 

Mr.  William  H.  Wood,  the  pioneer  of  tarpon 
fishing,  was  the  originator  of  the  formula  for 
estimating  the  weight  of  tarpon  when  first  taken 
from  the  water: 

Girth  *  x  length 


I  was  puzzled  for  a  long  time  trying  to  dis- 
cover the  reason  for  the  divisor  being  800.  A 
friendly  fellow  fisherman,  Mr.  B.  R.  Kittredge, 
eventually  solved  the  question  as  follows: 

"Consider  in  the  first  place  that  the  shape 
of  the  fish  is  represented  by  two  wedges  placed 
base  to  base.  The  area  of  the  base  of  a  wedge 
multiplied  by  half  its  length  gives  its  cubic 
volume.  So  the  volume  of  the  two  wedges 
would  be  the  area  of  the  base  multiplied  by  the 
length  of  one  wedge.  The  volume  of  a  fish 
in  cubic  inches  would  be  the  area  of  his  middle 
section  multiplied  by  half  his  length. 

If  you  square  the  circumference  of  any  given 
square  you  obtain  a  square  that  is  16  times  the 
area  of  the  given  square.  For  example  10  x  10 

31 


32  THE    TARPON 

has  an  area  of  100.  It  has  a  circumference  of 
40  which  squared  gives  1,600.  So  that  the 
square  of  the  girth  of  a  fish  divided  by  16  would 
give  the  area  of  that  section  of  the  fish.  Mul- 
tiply the  area  of  this  section  by  half  his  length 
and  you  will  have  the  cubic  volume  of  the  fish. 

Girth 2       length 

.t  ormula :    — —  x  — - —  =  cubic  volume 

lo  2 

The  specific  gravity  of  fish  is  approximately 
1.15  so  that  about  25  cubic  inches  of  fish  weigh 
29  of  water  or  one  pound. 

So  that  if  you  divide  the  number  of  cubic 
inches  in  a  fish  by  25  you  will  have  his  weight 
in  pounds: 

_,  Girth  *     length       1          . 

r  ormula:   — -r —  x  — - —  x  —  =  weight  in  Ibs. 
16  2          25 

which  simplified  is  Girth  2  x  length  over  800. 

My  friend  says  a  more  simple  formula  is: 
i  Girth  2  x  2  times  length  =  weight. 

Tarpon  must  be  measured  when  first  taken 
from  the  water  in  order  to  obtain  their  true 
weight  for  they  shrink  when  exposed  to  the  air. 
A  heavy  fish  that  is  hung  up  over  night  will 
stretch  inches  in  length  by  the  following  morn- 
ing. The  length  should  be  measured  from  the 
tip  of  the  closed  mouth  over  the  swell  of  the 
fish  to  a  line  drawn  between  the  flukes  of  the  tail. 


RECORDS 

As  far  as  my  personal  knowledge  is  con- 
cerned the  first  tarpon  was  landed  with  rod  and 
reel  by  Mr.  W.  H.  Wood  on  March  25th,  1885, 
bottom  fishing  in  Surveyors'  Creek,  Florida. 
Mr.  Wood's  great  ambition  was  to  land  a  tarpon 
while  fishing  from  the  shore  or  beach. 

I  know  of  over  a  dozen  fish  that  have  been 
taken  that  weighed  200  pounds  or  more. 

The  first  was  landed  by  Mrs.  Stagg  and 
weighed,  I  believe,  205  pounds. 

Edward  Vom  Hofe's  fish  followed  on  April 
30,  1898,  210  pounds  at  Captiva  Pass,  Florida. 

N.  M.  George  took  one  of  213  pounds  at 
Bahia  Honda,  Florida,  on  April  8th,  1901. 

Dr.  Howe  wrote  me  from  Mexico  that  he  had 
captured  a  223-pound  tarpon  at  Tampico. 

The  largest  tarpon  I  ever  saw  was  caught  off 
Tea  Table  Key,  Florida,  on  May  15th,  1904. 
I  was  told  that  it  weighed  224  pounds.  Charlie 
Thompson,  a  professional  fisherman,  was  the 
lucky  angler. 

W.  A.  McLaren  holds  the  record  for  a  fish 

S3 


34  THE    TARPON 

taken  in  the  Panuco  River,  Mexico,  on  March 
27th,  1911.  Length  7  ft.  8  ins.;  girth  47  ins. 
Weight  232  pounds. 

Mrs.  W.  Ashby  Jones  caught  a  tarpon  in  the 
Caloosahatchee  River,  Florida,  in  1916,  that 
weighed  210  pounds. 

Mr.  B.  W.  Crowninshield  has  a  record  of 
25  tarpon  taken  between  sunrise  and  sunset  at 
Boca  Grande  and  I  believe  Mr.  L.  G.  Murphy 
has  a  like  record  at  Aransas  Pass. 

The  greatest  fishing  I  ever  heard  of  was  done 
by  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Magill  on  a  cruise  along  the 
west  coast  of  Florida  in  1915.  They  captured 
176  tarpon  that  weighed  16,377  pounds.  The 
heaviest  fish  weighed  196J  pounds,  eleven 
weighed  over  180  and  forty  over  150  pounds 
each. 

There  were  785  tarpon  weighed  at  Useppa 
Island  in  1917  and  but  23  of  them  weighed  over 
150  pounds. 

At  Aransas  Pass,  Texas,  the  following  fish 
were  liberated  after  being  measured: 

1906 1,573 

1907 1,333 

1908 700     Beginning  of  light  tackle 

1909 720 

1910 800     49%  on  light  tackle 


THE    TARPON  35 

1911 718     66%  on  light  tackle 

1912 530     64%   "      " 

1913 960     78%   "      " 

The  falling  off  between  1907  and  1908  was 
partly  owing  to  the  introduction  of  light  tackle 
but  also  to  the  extension  of  the  jetties  which 
made  the  channel  dangerous  and  rough. 

In  the  90's  the  tarpon  that  were  weighed 
would  average  about  100  pounds  but  of  late 
years  the  average  has  fallen  to  about  80  pounds. 
This  would  lead  one  to  believe  that  the  number 
of  heavy  fish  is  decreasing. 

I  believe  that  the  tarpon  of  over  150  pounds 
in  weight  are  of  great  age  and  that  they  grow 
very  slowly.  I  judge  this  from  the  fact  that 
they  are  dainty  feeders,  for  there  is  very  little 
undigested  food  found  in  them  when  examined. 

Several  thousand  fish  have  been  destroyed 
yearly  for  over  twenty-five  years  and  although 
it  is  now  the  custom  to  liberate  most  of  the 
hooked  fish  many  of  these  tired  tarpon  become 
the  victims  of  piratical  sharks  and  those  that 
are  taken  in  nets  are  usually  destroyed  by  the 
fishermen  owing  to  the  damage  they  do  to  the 
nets. 


!  L/     I 


